ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Paulo Couraceiro and Nivedita Chatterjee

This report presents the outcomes of the workshop "ChatGPT and Beyond: AI Literacy for Early-Career Scholars", organised by ECREA's Audience and Reception Studies Section at Södertörn University in Stockholm, Sweden. The workshop created a structured yet open space for early-career researchers to examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping academic research and professional identity. Fifteen participants, mainly doctoral candidates from diverse national and disciplinary backgrounds, took part in a three-hour interactive session. The workshop combined reflection, practical exercises, and group discussion. It addressed three main areas: expectations and concerns about AI, everyday academic uses of AI tools, and the broader social implications of AI adoption. Participants expressed mixed emotions. Many described AI as useful and efficient, especially for assisting in literature review, text editing and managing routine tasks. Simultaneously, they also expressed concerns about authorship, bias, data privacy, and the risk of AI hallucinations. A key theme that emerged from the interaction was uncertainty. This was reflected in how university policies for AI adoption were often perceived as vague, inconsistent, or difficult to interpret. The ambiguity contributes to hesitation in disclosing the usage of AI and, in some cases, fear of reputational damage. Overall, the workshop highlights a strong demand for practical guidance and transparent discussion. Early-career scholars are not seeking to replace their work with AI, but to use it responsibly within clear ethical boundaries.

Download HERE.

March 12, 2026 (6:15 - 8:00 GMT)

King's College London, Strand Building (Room S-2.08), London, England

As part of the Italian Symposium in London, we are delighted to invite you to an evening of interdisciplinary dialogue exploring the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence, ethics, and society with Professor Luciana Parisi (Duke University), Professor Francesca Toni (Imperial College London) and Bianca de Teffé Erb (Deloitte). 

What do we mean when we call a machine “intelligent”? And what happens to ethics, responsibility, and power when decision-making is increasingly shared with, or delegated to, algorithms?

This panel opens a critical interdisciplinary conversation across five key dimensions: how we define intelligence itself; how ethics must evolve after and with the machine; how bias and systems of social reproduction are encoded into data and models; how explainability shapes trust between humans and AI; and how technological transformation demands new forms of governance that move beyond hype and fear towards an ecological understanding of AI operations.

The event is free and will be held in English. Booking is required at the link here.

About the Speakers

Luciana Parisi is Professor in Literature and core faculty for the Graduate Program in Computational Media Art and Culture at Duke University, USA. She was a member of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) and currently a co-founding member of CCB (Critical Computation Bureau). Her research is a philosophical investigation of technology in culture, aesthetics and politics. She is the author of Abstract Sex: Philosophy, Biotechnology and the Mutations of Desire (2004, Continuum Press) and Contagious Architecture. Computation, Aesthetics and Space (2013, MIT Press). She is completing a monograph on automation and philosophy (MIT Press, forthcoming) and co-editing the collection Colonial Fractals: The Racial Politics of Planetary Computation (Duke University Press, forthcoming).

Francesca Toni is Professor in Computational Logic in the Department of Computing, at Imperial College London, UK. She is the founder and leader of the CLArg (Computational Logic and Argumentation) research group and of the XAI Research Centre at Imperial. Her research interests lie within the broad area of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning in AI and Explainable AI, and in particular include Argumentation, Argument Mining, Logic-Based Multi-Agent Systems, Non-monotonic/Default/Defeasible Reasoning, Machine Learning. She is corner editor on argumentation for the Journal of Logic and Computation, in the editorial board of the Argument and Computation journal and associate editor for Theory and Practice of Logic Programming. She is also in the Board of Directors for KR Inc. and IJCAI trustee.

Bianca de Teffé Erb is Partner and Data & AI Ethics Lead at Deloitte. With over a decade of experience in consulting, she specialises in AI Governance, Ethics, Risk and Compliance. She supports multinational organisations such as NATO and ESA, public institutions and large industrial groups such as Confindustria in developing ethical and compliant AI adoption strategies, with a particular focus on the European AI Act. She is the author of the report “Towards an Ethics by Design Approach for AI,” presented at the European Parliament in 2024. Bianca was included in the “Top 20 Under 30” list by Forbes Italy in 2018. She was among the first professionals in Italy to obtain the ISO 42001 Lead Auditor certification.

The discussion will be moderated by Aglaia Freccero (Imperial College London), Dr Edoardo Occhipinti (UCL), Simone Pellegrino (Goldsmiths, University of London), and Emma Prévot (University of Oxford), four PhD and early-career researchers who will bring their diverse academic perspectives to this timely conversation on AI.

Under the broader Symposium theme, “Innovare Audere: A Future-Ready Italy,” this event reflects on the need for a critical approach to innovation and risk in shaping the future. In London, we explore how this spirit translates into Italy’s role in a rapidly changing world, through complementary perspectives on geopolitics and international relations, economic and financial competitiveness, and technology and innovation.

Over five days and across four universities, the Symposium convenes leading voices to discuss how Italy can strengthen its global influence and remain competitive in the decades ahead. The initiative is organised by United Italian Societies (UIS), a non-profit founded and led by Italian students abroad, connecting over 60 universities in more than 10 countries and representing a vibrant community of over 11,000 Italian students worldwide.

This event is co-organised with UIS Research Centre, a student-led think tank rooted in academic excellence, committed to producing rigorous policy proposals and forward-thinking research on Italy's most compelling issues that contribute to real-world institutional change.

We look forward to welcoming you all to a stimulating discussion!

September 16, 2026

Malaga, Spain

Deadline: March 15, 2026

Are you looking for an opportunity to discuss and develop your research paper? For the fifth time, we offer a Paper Development Workshop (PDW) during the annual EUPRERA congress. The PDW will take place on 16 September 2026 in Malaga, Spain, and will provide a highly interactive environment to discuss and receive feedback on papers. The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2026; submissions for the PDW are made during standard paper submissions for the EUPRERA congress. Join us!

More information: www.euprera.org/pdw

March 18, 2026

Online seminar

Online seminar and presentation of the final report of the European project Redistributive Imaginaries (University of the Arts London, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, University of Zurich, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, University of Lapland).

We invite you to attend the online seminar taking place on Wednesday, March 18, from 12:00 to 13:30 (CET) to present the final report of the project Redistributive Imaginaries: digitalization, culture and prosocial contribution. REDIGIM is a 3-year research and knowledge exchange project funded by CHANSE and carried out in Spain, Finland, Montenegro, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

More information and registration: https://www.ema.uzh.ch/en/register/redigim.html 

About the Project: In Europe’s mixed economies of welfare, redistribution practices are dispersed through civil society. Voluntary organisations involved in the delivery of welfare increasingly rely on digital tools and platforms to raise funds and manage relationships with donors. The project interrogates the systems of meaning that people use to make sense of redistribution and welfare provision. Through platform analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, we have examined emerging practices in the voluntary sector and identified some of the significant ways in which digital platforms are shaping dominant and emerging redistributive imaginaries.

In this seminar, members of the research team will discuss the project and its key findings, followed by discussion with respondents John Clarke, Eva Frade and Hanna Kuusela, and a Q&A with the audience.

Chair: Emma Dowling (University of Vienna)

Presenters from the research team: Rebecca Bramall (University of the Arts London), Milana Čergić (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz), Moritz Ege (University of Zurich), Mercè Oliva (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

Respondents: John Clarke (Emeritus, Open University), Eva Frade (Platoniq Foundation), Hanna Kuusela (University of Jyväskylä)

Download the report: https://redigim.arts.ac.uk/publications/how-do-digital-platforms-shape-meanings-and-practices/ 

Visualization of project's key findings: https://redigim.arts.ac.uk/imaginaries/

Project website: https://redigim.arts.ac.uk/

March 25-27, 2026

University of Bonn, Germany

March 17, 2026

Dear colleagues,

from 25 to 27 March 2026, the University of Bonn will host the final conference of the research group “How Is AI Changing Science? Research in the Era of Learning Algorithms (HiAICS)”. The conference is entitled AI in Research: Predictive Practices and examines how AI-based methods are reshaping contemporary research practices, particularly with regard to infrastructures, data regimes, and forms of predictive work.

Over the past years, the transdisciplinary HiAICS group has investigated how learning algorithms transform epistemic procedures, evidentiary standards, and institutional structures across disciplines. The final conference aims to open this discussion to a broader academic audience and to foster exchange across fields.

The programme brings together 25 speakers from climatology, sociology, media studies, history of science, computer science, law, anthropology, mathematics, philosophy, and related disciplines. Keynote speakers are Gabriele Gramelsberger (RWTH Aachen University), Alexander Waibel (KIT/Carnegie Mellon University), and Markus Gabriel (University of Bonn). A panel discussion on the second day will feature Alexander Winkler, Christian Djefall, Gabriele Schabacher, Orit Halpern, Anne Dippel, and Christian Bauckhage.

Further information and the full programme are available at: https://howisaichangingscience.eu/final-conference/

Please note that capacity is limited. Participants who are not registered speakers are required to register by 17 March 2026: https://forms.gle/tqfY4zSdPnVRBLfJ9

We would be grateful if you could share this announcement within your institute and among potentially interested colleagues.

For further inquiries, please contact: contact.howisaichangingscience@gmail.com

Kind regards,

Matthias Ernst

HiAICS Project Team

April 24, 2026

Online

Deadline: March 16, 2026

Read the full CfP here: https://ierlab.com/influencer-diplomacy/ 

This is a reminder that the submission deadline for the upcoming Influencer Diplomacy Symposium, hosted by the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab), is in two weeks [16 March 2026].

The symposium will be held online via Zoom on 24 April 2026 and will examine the evolving practice of influencer diplomacy across political, cultural, and geopolitical contexts.

Recent scholarship has highlighted the growing role of influencers in political arenas, including their involvement in diplomatic communication, soft power initiatives, conflict mediation, and international perception management. While research has addressed political influencers, geopolitical influencers, and state–influencer collaborations, there remains no shared definition of ‘influencer diplomacy.’

This symposium foregrounds influencer diplomacy as a generative concept, referring to the ways in which influencer cultures, practices, and industries impact diplomatic processes, from influencers assuming diplomatic roles and politicians adopting influencer strategies, to marketing firms leveraging influencer infrastructures in the mediation of international relations. Influencer diplomacy operates not only at formal state and institutional levels but also intersects with everyday politics, shaping public discourse and social engagement. Moreover, it must account for how influencers, as platform-savvy actors, tailor diplomatic communication to the vernaculars, norms, and affordances of specific digital platforms. 

To explore this phenomenon in more detail, the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab) will be hosting a one-day online symposium (on Zoom) to examine the evolving practice of influencer diplomacy. We invite submissions from humanities and social sciences, including but not limited to media studies, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, area studies, and international relations. We particularly welcome submissions that focus on empirically grounded research and comparative case studies. 

Selected papers will be considered for a peer reviewed edited collection. As such, we are only able to consider original, previously-unpublished abstracts/papers. Suggested topics include but are not limited to: 

• Influencers as official and unofficial intermediaries in diplomatic endeavours
  
• Motivations, labour, and negotiation in influencers’ diplomatic practice
  
• Politicians adopting influencer strategies in international communication
  
• The role of affect, intimacy, authenticity, and storytelling as diplomatic resources
  
• Audience participation, public formation, and the politicisation of influencer collaborations
  
• Influencer diplomacy as both a practice and a governing logic: how diplomacy increasingly ‘thinks like an influencer’
  
• Influencer diplomacy in crisis, conflict, humanitarian, and wartime contexts
  
• Regulation, disclosure, and governance of state–influencer collaborations

To be considered for the symposium, please submit a 250-word abstract and 100-word bio via the Google form below by 1700hrs (GMT+8) 16 March 2026. Notifications of acceptance will be sent on 20 March 2026. We gladly welcome co-authored submissions; to keep presentations consistent, each submission is limited to one presenter, preferably the corresponding author. Please submit via this form: https://forms.gle/7EWBPEuR4gk3ceKK7 

All enquiries should be directed to contact@IERLab.com

Key Dates:

• 16 March 2026: Abstracts and biographies due
  
• 20 March 2026: Notifications of acceptance
  
• 24 April 2026: Influencer Diplomacy Symposium

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Faye Mercier, Wuxuan Zhang, Prof. Crystal Abidin

Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab), Curtin University

March 6, 2026

Online

The second event in the 2026 By/For: Photography & Democracy virtual lecture series is coming up on Friday, March 6, at 1pm EST: “Studio Ilankai: A Tamil Photographic History of Sri Lankan Citizenship” with Vindhya Buthpitiya. Learn more and register here.

If you missed our first event, “To Show or Not to Show: Ethics, Censorship, and the Case of the Scourged Back” with Anne Strachan Cross & Matthew Fox-Amato, we invite you to view the recording here.

By/For: Photography & Democracy is a collaborative partnership between three photographic historians, Dr. Tom Allbeson, Dr. Colleen O’Reilly, and Helen Trompeteler. Our collective investigates photography’s assumed democratic credentials as an art form and a medium of mass communication. We believe a historical perspective on the complex relationship between photography and democracy is critical to understanding how the medium and related visual technologies can address the social and political issues of our time.

In 2026, we invite you to join leading thinkers Anne Strachan Cross & Matthew Fox-Amato, Vindhya Buthpitiya, Leigh Raiford, Jeehey Kim, Zahid R. Chaudhary, and Tiffany Fairey for thought-provoking conversations on photography and democracy. Explore season two and register for all events here.

28 June – 2 July 2026

Galway, Ireland

Call for Abstracts – ECREA panel at IAMCR conference 2026

International Association for Media and Communication Research

IAMCR Annual Conference: Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation

The 2026 central theme, Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation, addresses the complexities of contemporary media systems in a polarised and interconnected world. By emphasising intersections between the global and the local, IAMCR 2026 will provide a platform for reimagining media’s role in addressing critical challenges such as climate change, migration, representation, and digital inequalities.

More information: https://iamcr.org/galway2026/theme

ECREA will host one panel at IAMCR 2026 and invites high quality submissions of panel proposals that are focused on timely and innovative topics and are diverse in terms of methodologies, theoretical standpoints and/or nationalities of the presenters. As ECREA’s mission is advancing European scholarship, we especially encourage panel proposals which include a European perspective and a comparative research focus. This call for panel proposals is open to ECREA members of all ECREA sections and to all topics.

Please note the following information:

Panel submissions. Panels provide a good forum for the discussion of new approaches, ongoing developments, innovative ideas, and debates in the field. If you plan to submit a panel, please submit the following details: (a) Panel theme or title, (b) a 75-word description of the panel for the conference program, (c) a 400-word rationale, providing justification for the panel and the participating panelists, (d) 75-word abstract of each paper, (e) names of panel participants (usually 4-5 presenters, plus an optional designated respondent), and (f) name of panel chair/organizer. In terms of diversity, we expect a strong panel proposal to (a) include contributions of at least two different countries, (b) feature gender balance, and, ideally, (c) include not more than one contribution from a single faculty, department or school. Panel proposals need to be original and may not have been submitted to IAMCR before. Panels should consist of personal on-site presentations. Accepted panel presentations do not count towards the max. allowed individual paper presentations at the IAMCR conference.

Registering panelists. All panelists must be ECREA members by the time the conference takes place and agree in advance of submission to participate as panel presenters and to register for the IAMCR conference. IAMCR provides a registration waiver only for the panel convener, not for the other panelists. Also ECREA does not cover any travel expenses.

How to submit?

• Email to: info@ecrea.eu
  
• Submission deadline is 9th of March 2026, 23:59 CET
•  In case of questions please contact: info@ecrea.eu

ECREA Conference Review Committee:

Indrek Ibrus (Tallinn University)

Dina Vozab (University of Zagreb)

Malgorzata Winiarska-Brodowska (Jagiellonian University)

June 4, 2026 (8:30)

CTICC | Cape Town International Convention Centre - 1.61

Contact: Prof Sonia Livingstone, s.livingstone@lse.ac.uk

Register HERE (Online registration is available until: 5/4/2026)

Objective: Children and young people are often the earliest to go online, arguably the "canaries in the coal mine" of digital innovation around the world. Early optimism that the internet would enhance the realisation of children's rights is giving way to concern that digital business models are driving problematic societal transformations that undermine children's rights. Simultaneously, the Global South seeks ever greater digital connectivity to overcome barriers of access and inclusion, while the Global North increasingly calls out the adverse effects of digital inclusion on children's wellbeing. Education and awareness-raising for a digital world are crucial, but they are insufficient on their own. Many now call for stronger regulation to rein in the power of big tech to commodify and reshape all aspects of daily life in the interests of profit. But this is proving hugely contentious, with rights seemingly in conflict -safety, speech, privacy, participation- and with stakeholders also arguing over the roles of government, business, civil society, families, educators and more in safeguarding children's rights in a rapidly changing and complex digital world. This pre-conference will bring together scholars across ICA divisions and interest groups to address urgent and intersecting questions such as: How can data governance and AI design respect children's rights? What do child influencers, digital labour and commercial platforms mean for children's possibilities to exercise their rights in a digital age? How are gender, disability, and intersectional vulnerabilities shaping digital childhoods? What roles do digital participation, climate justice, and youth activism play? Although the questions are diverse, a child rights focus is simultaneously integrative yet flexible. The objective is to bring together different perspectives, expertise and approaches under the umbrella of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's General comment No. 25 on Children's Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment. At the same time, we will seek to recognise and discuss questions of interpretation, application and contestation over children's rights, on the one hand, and the digital environment, on the other, especially as these are contextualised around the world.

Description:

An open call for short papers will allow inclusive participation from different parts of the world. These will be pre-circulated to ensure depth and informed discussion on the day. We will begin at 8.30 with a short welcome from the organisers, introducing the aims of the pre-conference and why children's rights in the digital world matter now. At 9.00, Ann Skelton, former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, will give the keynote address. She will reflect on the significance of General Comment no. 25 and the challenges of realising children's rights in practice in rapidly changing digital contexts. From 9.30 to 10.30 we will discuss a set of short papers, in thematically-arranged groups around the banquet tables. These may cover themes such as child online safety, regulating for children's privacy, children's participation in digital governance, legal contestation over competing rights, young influencers and the platform economy, algorithmic childhoods, and the best interests of the child in digital environments. After a coffee break from 10.30 to 11.00, we return for a panel discussion. Scholars and practitioners will explore how research can inform policy, regulation and design, and how Global South perspectives can shape global debates. It will be a priority to build research capacity, to prioritise attention to research in the global South, and to develop a mutual research agenda to advance this field and its impact.

March 13, 2026 (10:00 AM - 4:00 PM)

Join us for the DFC Research Insights Day, a full-day hybrid event showcasing new research and evidence about children’s digital lives. The day brings together scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and young people to discuss what we know, what’s changing, and what’s next.

We will focus on children’s rights in the digital environment, as they relate to the rapid adoption of education technologies, online risks, resilience and mental health, and the real-world impacts of digital regulation. The day is designed to spark critical dialogue, cross-sector learning, and future collaboration grounded in children’s lived experiences.

10:00–10:30 | Arrival & Coffee

10:30–11:30 | Morning Session 1: Children’s Rights and the Digital Environment: General comment No. 25 - 5 years on

Panel: Beeban Kidron (House of Lords), Eva Lievens (Ghent University), Kim R. Sylwander (LSE)

Chair: Sonia Livingstone (LSE)

Session description:

Five years since the publication of UNCRC General Comment No. 25, we take stock of its influence on policy, regulation, advocacy, and research globally. Drawing on legal, policy, and civil society perspectives, the panel will reflect on what has changed for children online, where implementation has succeeded or stalled, and how children’s rights frameworks are shaping the next phase of digital governance.

11:30 - 11:45 Comfort break

11:45–12:45 | Morning Session 2: A Better EdTech Future for Children: Learning, Rights, and AI

Panel: Sandra El Gemayel (LSE), Colette Collins-Walsh (5Rights), youth representatives, Kasia Suliga (teacher)

Chair: Alison Powell (LSE)

Session description:

This session examines how educational technologies (EdTech), including AI tools, are shaping children’s learning experiences and rights. Bringing together research, policy, and lived perspectives, the panel will discuss equity, design, and governance in EdTech systems, highlighting best practices and rights-based approaches. Through engagement with children, educators, and civil society, the discussion will explore ways to create more inclusive, transparent, and accountable digital learning environments and stimulate public debate on the future of digital education.

12:45–13:45 | Lunch (provided)

13:45–14:30 | Afternoon Session 1: Designing New Research on Children’s Digital Lives, Mental Health and Resilience

Speakers: 

Kasia Kostyrka-Allchorne (Queen Mary University of London)

ORChiD – Online Risks and Resilience in Children’s Daily Lives

Damon De Ionno (Revealing Reality)

DigiPulse – Real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment of children’s smartphone engagement and mental health

Chair: Mariya Stoilova

Session description:

This session introduces emerging insights from new research projects that use real-time and child-centred methodologies to explore the relationship between children’s digital engagement, mental health, and resilience. Looking beyond simplistic narratives of screen time, the speakers outline how these studies aim to capture the ways online interactions, risks, and opportunities are embedded in children’s everyday lives and emotional experiences. The session looks ahead to how this work can deepen understanding of how mental health impacts are shaped by context, timing, and individual differences, while advancing innovative methods and frameworks for future research, policy, and practice.

14:30–15:15 | Afternoon Session 2: From Policy to Practice: Regulating Platforms to Benefit Children’s Digital Lives

Presentation & conversation: Steve Wood (PrivacyX Consulting), Beckett LeClair (5Rights), Jasmina Byrne (former Chief of Foresight and Policy, UNICEF)

Chair: Beeban Kidron

Session description:

Building on earlier work on the Impact of Regulation on Children’s Digital Lives, this session examines how recent regulatory and technological developments are shaping children’s online experiences. Combining academic research and civil society perspectives, the discussion explores what regulation is achieving in practice - and where gaps remain between policy intent and children’s lived realities.

The session will start with a brief presentation by Steve Wood, followed by a panel discussion.

15:15–16:00 | Wrap-up by Sonia Livingstone, Reflections & Coffee

Closing reflections: Key insights from across the day. Emerging research and policy priorities. Opportunities for collaboration across research, policy, and practice